Um... This book is hard for me to review. I read it quickly, and didn't find it boring, but the constant pop-culture references wore on me in a way they didn't in RP1. I guess in the previous book they felt more true to the story. The story itself felt strangely derivative, but knowingly so. The book constantly referred to The Last Starfighter, Ender's Game, etc.. It did take a twist I was not expecting in the last quarter of the book or so.

The ending felt somewhat phoned in.

But as I was finishing the book I realized what it felt like it was trying to be: The teenager's equivalent of an 'airplane read'. And I guess it succeeded at that.